You can call it kitchen table spam, birdcage liners or plain old junk mail. But whatever you name the piles of catalogs and mailers that fill up your mailbox, you probably don’t want it in your house. These tools help you dump the junk snail mail and find your kitchen table again.

PaperKarma: Junk Mail Eliminator

After some ups and downs and a temporary demise, I’m thrilled to say that one of my favorite apps is healthy and happy.

PaperKarma makes being green easy. Just snap a picture of the junk mail you receive, and they’ll contact the company to remove you from the mailing list. Not only does it cut down on the junk mail that hides your kitchen table… it also helps companies save money on catalogs that you’ll never open. Get a year’s worth of junk mail zapping for $20, or just gather all the extra mailings in your house and blast through them in a month for $2.

DMAchoice: Direct Mailing Filter
& Catalog Choice: Catalog Unsubscriber

The people who mail you catalogs are members of The Direct Mailing Association, I mean the Data & Marketing Association, oops, now it’s the Association of National Advertisers (ANA). Heck, I don’t know what they’re called anymore, but they still run a site called DMAchoice. For two bucks, you can register your name and address for 10 years, giving you control over what types of junk mail actually reach your mailbox, no matter if you’re on the official mailing list or not. DMAchoice is also handy for email opt-outs and canceling mail after a person passes away.

You can also go to the nonprofit site Catalog Choice to remove your name from mailings.

OptOutPrescreen.com Service to Opt Out of Credit Offers

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, we can block credit and insurance companies from sending us solicitations. In other words, no more “You’re PREAPPROVED!” letters with the little transparent windows.